Get Wild with Spring Salads

       Tired of the same old salads? If your taste buds are begging for something new, then most likely your body would love a change too. There are only so many combinations you can toss together using the same leafy greens available organic in most supermarkets. Growing your own will increase variety, of course. But, you might not have thought to pick the green plants that pop up uninvited in your yard. Edible weeds are one of the most economical, nutrient dense, ecological, delicious, healthy for you and the earth foods you can consume! 


       Depending upon where you live, you likely have access to dandelion greens, purslane, lambs quarters, amaranth, chickweed, nettle, clover, shepard's purse, and so many more varieties of greens right in your own backyard and neighborhood! In any given location there exist over 75 different varieties of edible plants. I found nasturtium, purslane, and lambs quarters in Arequipa, Peru, nasturtium, purslane, and pigs face in Sunshine Coast, Australia, and dandelion, purslane, and lambsquarters in Connecticut, USA just while walking or engaging in daily activities. If I were hunting, I could have found a whole lot more. Now that spring is upon us, picking wild greens is a fantastic way to improve our nutrition in the best possible way for our planet. Zero packaging, zero shipping, zero human watering, zero cents involved! Not even the paper from a seed packet. 


       Throughout history, humans have always been healthiest when consuming a wide variety of plant foods. Wild greens have more phytonutrients, which help the plant to fight off pathogens and competition in nature, and help us consumers to help fight off illness and poor health within our bodies. Most wild greens have higher vitamin and mineral content than their conventional grocery store vegetables. And your backyard plants can be consumed just after picking, meaning that they wont have lost any nutrients. Most vegetables we purchase in the supermarket have been shipped and stored for long periods of time, which means their nutrient content is vastly degraded. Spinach loses 80% of its vitamin content by the first two days after harvest. And some supermarket produce is stored in warehouses for months prior to your consumption! Additionally, many wild greens have a higher nutrient content than conventional vegetables to begin with. For example, Lambs quarter is related to spinach and has a similar delicate earthy flavor and tender texture, but it has far more calcium and vitamin C and is an excellent source riboflavin, thiamine, vitamins E, A, and B6, potassium, and magnesium. 


      If you want to create the most varied, nutrition dense, environmentally friendly, economical, delicious meal possible, I advise you pick up an edible field guide at your local library or do some online reasearch and start incorporating edible weeds, the true vegetables of the earth, into your diet. Children love learning to identify and harvest wild greens from the yard and will gladly spend hours on their edible scavenger hunt. Purslane, high in omega three fatty acids, is a particular favorite among the kids. And the use of wild greens doesn't stop at salads...put some in your sandwich, scrambled eggs, frittata, stir fry, or anywhere you use vegetables!